Your CV is one of the first documents a scholarship committee sees, and in many cases it shapes how they read everything else in your application. A weak or poorly structured CV — even from a highly qualified Nigerian graduate — signals a lack of seriousness and can undermine a strong personal statement or excellent grades. A well-built scholarship CV, on the other hand, tells your story clearly, highlights the right achievements, and makes the committee’s job easier. This guide shows you exactly how to build a CV that works for scholarship applications — what to include, what to leave out, how to structure it, and the specific mistakes Nigerian graduates must avoid.
A scholarship CV is not the same as a job application CV. When you apply for a job, your CV is optimised for the employer’s needs — skills, software proficiency, industry experience. When you apply for a scholarship, your CV is optimised for the scholarship committee’s priorities — academic achievement, research experience, leadership, community impact, and future potential. The same information may appear in both, but the emphasis, the ordering, and the framing must be different. Understanding this distinction is the first step to writing a CV that actually helps your application.
How Long Should Your Scholarship CV Be
Most scholarship programmes — including Chevening, Commonwealth, DAAD, Australia Awards, and university-based awards — expect a CV of two pages maximum for postgraduate applicants. Some research scholarships, particularly PhD programmes, accept a slightly longer academic CV of up to three pages if you have publications or conference presentations to list. Undergraduate scholarship CVs should be no longer than one to two pages.
If your CV runs beyond two pages, it does not mean you have more to offer — it usually means you have not edited carefully enough. Every line on a scholarship CV must earn its place. Remove anything that does not directly strengthen your case for the award you are applying for.
The Right Structure for a Scholarship CV
Use the following section order for a scholarship application CV. This structure is recognised and expected by most international scholarship committees:
1. Personal Information
Your full name, Nigerian phone number with country code (+234), professional email address, city and state of residence, and LinkedIn profile URL if it is up to date and professional. Do not include your date of birth, religion, tribe, marital status, or a passport photograph — these are not required on international scholarship CVs and including them marks your application as unfamiliar with international standards.
2. Education
List your academic qualifications in reverse chronological order — most recent first. For each qualification include the institution name, degree title, field of study, graduation year, and your final grade or CGPA. Be specific — write “Second Class Upper, CGPA 4.32/5.0” rather than just “Second Class Upper.” If you have a strong secondary school result, include it here as well, particularly for scholarships that consider your full academic history. For Nigerian graduates, include your WAEC or NECO results if they are strong — some scholarship applications, particularly for undergraduate awards, specifically ask for these.
3. Work Experience
List your professional work experience in reverse chronological order. For each role include your job title, organisation name, location, dates of employment, and two to four bullet points describing your key responsibilities and achievements. Write achievement-focused bullet points — not just descriptions of what the job involved, but what you specifically contributed and what the outcomes were. Use numbers wherever possible. “Managed a team of six field officers across three states” is stronger than “Managed a team.” “Increased programme enrolment by 34% over two quarters” is stronger than “Improved programme outcomes.”
For scholarship applications that require work experience — such as Chevening, Australia Awards, and Fulbright — this section is critical. Ensure your work history clearly shows the progression, the responsibility, and the relevance to your proposed field of study.
4. Research Experience
Include this section if you have any research experience, even if it was part of your undergraduate or postgraduate studies. List your final year project or thesis, any research assistantships, laboratory work, fieldwork, or independent research. Include the title of your research, the institution, the year, and a one-sentence description of the focus and your specific contribution. For research-focused scholarships — DAAD, Melbourne Graduate Research, Commonwealth PhD — this section is often as important as your work experience section.
5. Publications and Conference Presentations
If you have published any articles, papers, or reports — in peer-reviewed journals, institutional publications, or credible online platforms — list them here. Include the full title, co-authors if any, publication name, and year. If you have presented at any academic conference or seminar, list the conference name, your presentation title, and the year. Even a poster presentation at a departmental seminar is worth including if the rest of this section is thin. For doctoral scholarship applications, publications significantly strengthen your profile.
6. Leadership and Community Involvement
This section is one of the most important for scholarships that prioritise leadership, social impact, and community engagement — including Chevening, Australia Awards, and the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. List roles such as student union positions, NGO work, community development projects, church or mosque leadership roles with genuine community impact, youth mentorship programmes, and any other activities where you led, organised, or contributed meaningfully beyond your professional duties. For each entry, include your role title, the organisation or context, the dates, and a brief description of what you did and the impact it had.
7. Awards and Honours
List any academic awards, departmental prizes, best graduating student recognitions, scholarships previously won, or professional honours. Include the award name, the awarding body, and the year. Even relatively modest recognition — a departmental commendation, a faculty prize — is worth including if your awards section is otherwise thin. This section is often overlooked by Nigerian graduates who underestimate the value of local recognition in international scholarship applications.
8. Skills
Keep this section concise and honest. Include only skills that are directly relevant to your proposed field of study or that are specifically requested by the scholarship. Relevant skills might include research software, data analysis tools, laboratory techniques, language proficiency, or technical skills relevant to your discipline. Do not pad this section with generic skills like “Microsoft Office” or “good communication skills” — these are assumed and add no value to a scholarship CV.
9. Referees
List two or three referees — their full name, title, institution, relationship to you, and contact details. Alternatively, you can write “References available on request” if the scholarship application does not require referee contact details on the CV itself. Ensure your referees are aware that they are listed and have agreed to be contacted.
Formatting Rules That Matter
How your CV looks is almost as important as what it says. Follow these formatting rules without exception:
- Use a clean, professional font — Calibri, Georgia, or Times New Roman at 11 or 12 point size. Avoid decorative fonts entirely
- Use consistent formatting throughout — if you bold your job titles, bold all your job titles. If you use bullet points in one section, use them in all equivalent sections
- Use standard A4 page size with margins of at least 1.5cm on all sides
- Save and submit as a PDF — this preserves your formatting across all devices and operating systems
- Name your file professionally — “FirstName_LastName_CV.pdf” not “my cv final final 3.pdf”
- Do not use tables, text boxes, coloured backgrounds, or graphic design elements — these look unprofessional in academic contexts and sometimes cause problems when uploaded to online scholarship portals
- Use clear section headings in bold to make the document easy to scan
Common CV Mistakes Nigerian Graduates Must Avoid
- Including a passport photograph — not expected or appropriate on international scholarship CVs
- Listing religion, tribe, or marital status — irrelevant and marks the document as locally formatted rather than internationally ready
- Using an unprofessional email address — create a Gmail address using your full name if your current email is informal
- Writing job descriptions instead of achievements — tell the committee what you accomplished, not just what your job was
- Listing every short course and training you have ever attended — only include training that is directly relevant and credible
- Using a generic CV for every application — tailor the emphasis of your CV slightly for each scholarship, bringing the most relevant sections and achievements to the front
- Leaving unexplained gaps in your timeline — if there is a gap between graduation and your first job, or between jobs, account for it briefly rather than leaving the committee to wonder
One Final Tip
After finishing your CV, read it as if you are a scholarship committee member seeing it for the first time. Ask yourself: does this document make a clear, compelling case for this person? Does it tell a coherent story of academic achievement, professional growth, leadership, and future potential? If any section feels thin, unclear, or disconnected from your scholarship goals, revise it before submitting. Your CV is not just a list of facts — it is a carefully constructed argument for why you deserve the opportunity you are applying for. Build it that way.
Moreschooling covers the full scholarship application process for Nigerian students — from finding the right opportunity to writing essays, getting recommendation letters, and preparing visa documents. Explore the rest of our guides to build the strongest possible application for the scholarship that is right for you.